With increasing regularity, electric power utility companies have initiated “black outs”, “brown outs”, and “rolling blackouts” to cope with a condition of too little available energy and too much demand. Increases in energy prices coupled with worsening pollution levels add to the problems associated with the unrelenting demand for electrical energy.
In many cases, un-announced blackouts (from an extreme over-demand) on the supply cause havoc within affected businesses, as well as within the residential community. Pro-active “brownouts”, where the utility company schedules the brownouts in advance, provides some relief in terms of giving an advanced warning to the affected customers, but is still an inconvenience.
Thus, a need remains for a system of providing the necessary decrease in power demand during shortfall situations that does not unduly hamper the power company customer base.